Cumberland group forms to aid schools
CUMBERLAND – More than 50 Cumberland education advocates and elected officials gathered at Venue 131, the private function hall of Angelo’s Palace Pizza, on Monday night to celebrate the launch of the Cumberland Education Foundation.
The mission of the nonprofit is twofold: to provide scholarships for graduating seniors, and to give grants to innovative classroom programs that go above and beyond the demands of a typical school day, such as robotics, virtual reality and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives.
“The foundation was not formed to relieve the responsibility for the public funding of public education,” said Kristen Sukatos, vice president of the Cumberland Education Foundation. “Rather, the foundation seeks to act as a catalyst of broadening the base of support for education and to shape an educational experience of the highest cal- iber for Cumberland students.”
The launch was a $30-a-person wine and hors d’oeuvres fundraiser. The Cumberland Education Foundation plans to host a gala in the fall and an adult spelling bee next spring. At the launch, the nonprofit announced that a graduating senior in the Class of 2017 will be receiving a $500 scholarship, which they hope to make an annual award.
Its board members are Sukatos,
Rosemary Reilly-Chammat (president), Michael Webber, Matthew Newman, Amy Neary, Heidi Henderson, Armand Pires, Jason Costa and Lisa Beaulieu. Some of the board members got involved through their work on the budget task force last year.
The story of the Cumberland Education Foundation began in 2008 when community members and elected officials gathered to develop the Cumberland School District’s strategic plan, Reilly-Chammat said.
In January of 2010, a group of parents, school officials and representatives of local organizations met at the Blackstone River Theatre with a vision to “create a culture of learning in Cumberland through strategic and focused efforts, capitalize on the momentum of the community, leverage community resources, network stakeholders to improve partnerships and minimize redundancy of efforts currently occurring within the community,” Reilly-Chammat said.
And so the Cumberland Townwide Learning Community (Cumberland TLC) was born. For a few years, the group annually held a road race and health fair to raise funds for middle school sports.
Cumberland TLC then grew into the Cumberland Education Foundation, a 5019(c)(3) incorporated in January 2016.
At the launch, Cumberland Education Foundation board member Amy Neary announced that it will be giving awarding a $500 scholarship to a graduating senior this year. It will be given to a student who will be enrolled at a four-year college, two-year college or technical institution during the 2017-18 school year.
The scholarship will be based on academic performance, extracurricular activities/employment history, and volunteerism in the community.
The scholarship application is available at cumberlandedfoundation.org/scholarship. Applications must be delivered to the Cumberland High School guidance office by 10 a.m. on Tuesday.
“The scholarships are great – and they really can make a difference in a person’s life and in their career path, getting into college – but I guess what I’m personally jazzed about is the opportunity to impact many, many students, and that’s through the efforts of the grant program,” Neary said.
One way to raise money for classroom innovation programs is through an adult spelling bee planned for next spring, an idea that garnered nervous laughter from attendees of the launch.
But Neary told them not to panic, that the spelling bee will involve groups of 8 or 10. The Cumberland Education Foundation plans to work with the Los Angeles-based organization The Spelling Bee Company, creators of the musical comedy “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
The company members have professional performers and comedians helping out at fundraisers, and Cumberland Education Foundation board member Matthew Newman hopes the adult spelling bee will become an institution in the town.
“I must say that the thought of the adult spelling bee is a little frightening at this age,” Superintendent Robert Mitchell joked. “It’s amazing; I’ve forgotten how to spell a lot of words.”
Mitchell noted that Chariho Regional School District, where he worked as a principal for 12 years, nearly two decades ago developed the Community 2000 Education Foundation, a nonprofit that has helped guide the Cumberland Education Foundation’s goals.
Sukatos noted that Chariho, Bristol-Warren, Westerly, Barrington, Ponaganset and Narragansett have all established education nonprofits, and now it’s Cumberland’s turn.
Antrop & Williamson real estate is sponsoring the Cumberland Education Foundation, and other donors include Neighborhood Nursery, Northeast Orthodontics, Ocean State Urgent Care and Panera Bread.
In attendance at the launch were Mayor Bill Murray and Cumberland School Committee members Bill Dennen, Steve Hess and Amy Goggin.
“[ W]hat I’m personally jazzed about is the opportunity to impact many, many students, and that’s through the efforts of the grant program.”